Page View Pay vs. Upfronts

*Originally published on 4/16/12


When writing for the Internet, you'll find that pay comes in one of two varieties. There is the system where your pay is based on how much traffic your content draws, while other sites use a more straight-forward system and offer upfront payments based on the quality of your work, sometimes even paying you per word.

It leaves you wondering which one is more worthwhile. On the one hand, if you do manage to grasp the nebulous concept of SEO, you can turn in a fair bit of cash. On the other hand, it's no guarantee and it takes a lot of traffic in order to generate a worthwhile sum of money.

While a majority of websites go with this system, it's not surprising to see that sites that offer you an upfront payment turn out to be more lucrative. Even if the payment is only a few dollars, you know what you're getting and you feel like you have something to show for all of your work.

Upfront payments also tend to result in better quality. If you have no idea how much money your article will turn out, you will be less inclined to double check it, whereas with a possibility of a larger sum upfront, you'll find yourself triple checking just to make sure everything is up to snuff.

Now, some argue that well written articles will draw traffic regardless. This is not always the case, however. There is a lot of content out there, so the odds of someone coming across your specific article is a bit of a stretch. Even knowing about SEO doesn't promise you a ton of hits.

I understand why websites are so fond of the view based pay system. After all, the clicks are what generate the ad revenue that pays the company to pay the writers. If writers put up content that draws a lot of traffic, than they'll get more money too. It seems fair enough, but from a writer's standpoint, it can prove vexing at times, as you are pretty much rolling the dice in regards to your work.

Page views can occasionally bring in a nice chunk of change for the self-employed writer; however, it works best as a supplement. At the end of the day, writers are better off finding places that pay them upfront for their work as it yields better results for both parties.